In 1777, forces under General George Washington were defeated by the British in the Battle of Brandywine.

In 1814, an American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

In 1857, the Mountain Meadows Massacre took place in present-day southern Utah as a 120-member Arkansas immigrant party was slaughtered by Mormon militiamen aided by Paiute Indians.

In 1922, the British Mandate for Palestine went into effect.

In 1936, Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation as President Franklin D. Roose-velt pressed a key in Washington to signal startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator.

In 1941, groundbreaking took place for the Pentagon. In a speech that drew accusations of anti-Semitism, Charles Lindbergh told an America First rally in Des Moines that ‘‘the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt administration’’ were pushing the United States toward war.

In 1954, the Miss America pageant made its network TV debut on ABC; Miss California, Lee Meriwether, was crowned the winner.

In 1962, the Beatles completed their first single for EMI, ‘‘Love Me Do’’ and ‘‘P.S. I Love You,’’ at EMI studios in London.

In 1971, former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died at 77.

In 1972, the deadly Munich Summer Olympics ended.

In 1973, Chilean President Salvador Allende died during a violent military coup.

In 1989, the exodus of East German refugees from Hungary to West Germany began.

In 2001, the United States faced its worst day of terrorism. Nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 Al Qaeda members hijacked four passenger jetliners. Two planes smashed into New York’s World Trade Center, causing the twin towers to fall; one plowed into the Pentagon; the fourth was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

In 2003, Israel issued an ominous threat to ‘‘remove’’ Yasser Arafat for failing to halt suicide bombings. Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died from stab wounds inflicted when she was attacked in a Stockholm store a day earlier.

In 2012, a mob armed with guns and grenades launched a fiery nightlong attack on a US diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, killing US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.